DA boycotts public meeting
People wanted to know why the party's candidate did not attend.
THE Democratic Alliance has explained its reason for not attending the public meeting hosted by the Umtentweni Ratepayers’ Forum at Port Shepstone Country Club last Wednesday. The meeting, organised by the forum, was to give the community an opportunity to meet the candidates who will be standing in the Ward 12 by-election which will take place this Wednesday, February 19.
Each candidate was given five minutes to win over the voters and the meeting was then open to the floor where the electorate could ask questions. A lot of people voiced their concerns about the DA boycotting this meeting, claiming the DA did not come to the meeting because its candidate was not from Ward 12.
“We feel that this meeting was a publicity stunt by the Umtentweni Ratepayers’ Forum to try and promote its own candidate Alex Skene,” said DA spokesman Doug Rawlins. He added that the meeting did not benefit any other candidate but the ratepayers’ candidate.
“We have been introducing our own candidate, Zuret Opperman, to the community. She has been doing door-to-door visits throughout the ward. She was introduced to the ratepayers’ association committee, as well as iNkosi Lushaba at Oshabeni. We had two information tables at Umtentweni Spar where she was present for over 12 hours in total. We will have a ‘Meet the DA candidate’ meeting at Umtentweni Library today, (February 17), where all are welcome,” he explained.
When asked whether it was true that the DA’s candidate wasn’t from Ward 12, Cllr Rawlins said she is from the Hibiscus Coast Municipality. “The community does not only consist of Umtentweni residents. The community consists of all the people living in HCM. The candidate lives in HCM. The issues that pertain to Umtentweni, Uvongo, Southport, Albersville are all the same,” he said.
The ANC candidate had tough questions to answer from the unhappy ratepayers, and it was quite obvious that Alex Skene, who is Independent, was very popular with the community. The candidates at the meeting were Alex Skene (Independent), Moses Makhathini (IFP) and Jameela Ismail (ANC).
